This Barcelona urban-wear shop is located in L’illa – the city’s first truly modern shopping mall – and makes a bold statement with little space and an even smaller palette of materials. In just 42 sq m, the shop has a sophisticated feel thanks to the oak panelling, screens and display elements. Local designer Francesc Rifé’s planning results in a warm atmosphere and intimate space that’s minimal yet cohesive.

‘I was inspired by a timberyard – the starting point of a material that is about to be transformed,’ Rifé says. Matte-black PVC flooring and exposed lights, cables and air-conditioning ducts (also bathed in black) add a sense of industrial chic to the interior’s otherwise organic simplicity. L’illa is a commercial complex designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Rafael Moneo and Manuel de Solà-Morales. After opening in 1993, the mall quickly filled with high-street brands, some with note-worthy designs, as is the case with Carhartt.

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